ASUS Transformer Prime: First Delivery Batch in Time for Christmas

Most Asus Transformer Prime enthusiasts won't get their hands on the Eee Pad tablet until 2012, but a U.S rep for the company told ZD Net that the first batch of pre-orders will be delivered in time for Christmas.

Although pre-orders opened last week for the highly anticipated Transformer Prime, many stores-- including Amazon and Best Buy-- have reported severe delays. While Best Buy reported that most of the tablets would be delivered by the beginning of 2012, Amazon said some of the 64GB gadgets would not ship for another 4-7 weeks.

The ASUS Transformer Prime is the most pre-ordered Android tablet to date, according to Currys and PC world, and the high demand is causing serious delays in its worldwide distribution.

Here's what ASUS had to say about the delay:

ASUS started filling the inventory pipelines this past week for our new Eee Pad Transformer Prime and will continue to do so on an expedited basis for the foreseeable future. We will reach normal inventory levels in January for the North American market based on current orders and forecasts. Based on forecasted supply schedules to our valued partners we expect pre-order allocation fulfillment to occur shortly and online or in-store availability in the very near future. We will continue to work closely with our partners to fill customer orders as quickly as possible.

The initial batch of Eee pads that came out in the Taiwan, were delayed after the company recalled 300 of the Transformer Prime Tablets due to Wi-Fi Connectivity issues. The problem was only found in the first batch of tablets sold in Taiwan, according to the company.

Pre-orders for the tablet also opened in the U.K last week priced at £499, but there have been no reports of further delays since the pre-orders went live.

Pricing in the U.S will range from $499 (32GB) to $599** (64GB), with the optional mobile dock accessory priced at $149.

The Eee Pad Transformer Prime is the first tablet to herald the NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor. It is ultra-thin at 8.3mm and weighs only 586g and comes with state-of-the-art SonicMaster Audio technology, an HD 8MP rear auto-focus camera with LED flash. And all with an 18-hour battery-left when combined with the mobile dock.

The mobile dock allows the tablet to transform to a notebook form, equipped with a keyboard and battery charger. The Asus Transformer Prime also has capabilities to upgrade to Android's latest ice-cream sandwich software.